I confess, I never heard of East Central until about a week ago when they were announced at the UNM game as the next home game. This reminds me of games against Cardinal Stritch and Jacksonville State during the Haskins years. At very least I'm anticipating wins unlike the last few years with losses to teams like NW Louisiana and Norfolk State.
East Central
- Thread starter Cube Jack
- Start date
I'm surprised you didn't know since you work in the athletic department.
Alma mater of former UTEP coaching legend Phil Johnson. If you recall, he got someone tossed from the DHC for taunting him with "East Central" while he was with San Jose State.
Regardless of the level of competition, it’ll be good to get a sneak peak of Archie tonight.
Honestly, I didn’t think we’d see much of Stroud this year. While I did think Tarke would be a contributor, I also had a couple posts where I questioned why we thought he was so good, using his high volume and low percentage shooting as justification for my question.
Anyway, I could be wrong, but I think Archie is of a different mold and will contribute heavily to this team.
After all the years of suffering, patience is my name.
For me, Tarke yes, Stroud no. If Archie is starting material then Tarke is in trouble.
Where did that come from? I hope he contributes a ton.
This team is in a good groove right now. I'm nervous about Archie's addition. His departure from TCU has always been a big red flag. If he can be a role player I'll be happy.
I just checked Ticketmaster, only 8,259 tickets remaining for tonight. Senter is a genius for scheduling this game tonight and charging full price for all tickets!!
Good point, but I think CRT has a good grip on this team right now. I would like to think that won't happen.
They should have said bring 5 canned goods for a free ticket. Would have been a great promotion and at the same time helps families in need.
Stupid idea man. The last time UTEP did something for charity, they only donated 1/3 of it. Kept the rest for “expenses”. They would do the same for this. Plus, you can’t give away tickets. ****Unless its for the HBU football game****
What's UTEP going to do with a bunch of canned goods?
That is funny about the HBU game.
We're playing a bunch of odd lineups. We should still be winning by 20 at this point, but this isn't our standard rotation of players by any means. Tarke, Hawkins, Stroud, and archie are getting a lot of minutes
Archie looks lost out there. Unsure of where he should be or what he should be doing. Physically, he also looks sluggish, slow.
Just an early observation on a very early performance. Hope he's able to get into game shape and live up to the hype I read in here about him.
Yeah. Even our starting lineup looks that way too. Just an observation.
Tarke actually looked more comfortable with the ball in his hands than anyone else other than Williams.
There’s Archie. Nice drive and finish.
We play like we want to be there for a couple of minutes then decide we can take it easy for the next few. We're just incapable of crushing these teams. If we continue to play down to our opponents, it's going to bite us a couple of times this year.
Which means they wouldn't be keeping them for expenses? Then it sounds like a good idea.
I’d like to see more of Tarke, more of Hawkins against better competition. Both intrigued me tonight.
I’m stubborn as hell, and have been 100% behind Boum getting all his minutes, but it may do him good to have to go earn his minutes besides just on the defensive end. He cannot find his rhythm. So off. He’s been abysmal from the floor lately.
I’m stubborn as hell, and have been 100% behind Boum getting all his minutes, but it may do him good to have to go earn his minutes besides just on the defensive end. He cannot find his rhythm. So off. He’s been abysmal from the floor lately.
He was nervous. If he said he wasn't, he's lying. He popcorned two defensive players into the first row without even knowing it and then rifled it into EO who wasn't expecting it. That's when I knew he was nervous.
Same old story. We always play down to our opponents. Williams is awesome. Other starters...Vila?, Edwards OK!, Boum? and Lathon... what's up with him? No production at all and Terry angrily yanked him after being in for just a minute at the end. The upside to me was the promise I saw from Archie and Tarke. I see both of them being
on the floor more than Vila and Boum from now on. Don't know what to make out of Boum's continued struggles and Vila's lack of offense.
Overall; not a gushy good feeling tonight.
P S Good to see some positives from Hawkins.
on the floor more than Vila and Boum from now on. Don't know what to make out of Boum's continued struggles and Vila's lack of offense.
Overall; not a gushy good feeling tonight.
P S Good to see some positives from Hawkins.
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Definitely more Hawkins. He, Tarke, Stroud, and Edwards are crazy athletic and explosive towards the basket. Will be awesome if these guys can draw defenses out opening things up underneath.
We need to be able to hit the 3pt shot a lot better than we have or teams will just pack it in against us !
Some thoughts on tonight's game:
The only one who can stop Bryson Williams is Bryson Williams. Yeah, I know that this was East Central, but we've also seen him dominate much better competition as well - at least when he's on the floor. If he can fix his Achilles heal of foul trouble he will be unstoppable.
Williams was awesome, Edwards was fine. Other than that our starters played poorly tonight.
After Williams the best players tonight were Tarke and Hawkins. Tarke finally seems to be adjusting to being back on the floor and to this team. In my opinion he's earned minutes against NMSU. Hawkins might just be our best playmaker in transition. He made the right play on the break frequently tonight.
Back to Hawkins. I've read a lot this season as to how he's been a disappointment at UTEP. Sone here must view things a lot differently than I do. I personally don't expect a freshman to come in and be a superstar. I look for that spark that tells me that this guy has the tools to be a good player some day, all the while expecting that often he will play like, well, a freshman.
I saw that spark last year. In the fact that he led the team in scoring during conference games at almost 14 ppg, and in the fact that he had several really good individual performances. Of course, he often looked like a freshman as well. In my mind, he and Lathon had similar freshman seasons, though Lathon was a little more consistent and more clutch. Hawkins didn't start out great this year, but I hope this game is a springboard to better things from him in his sophomore season.
If Boum going to bust out offensively, I hope that he does it real soon. His shooting these last few games has been hard to watch.
I've seen it hypothesized on here that Archie was nervous. I've seen it hypothesized that he is rusty. Yes. It will be a little too scary to let him work out his nerves/rust issues against NMSU, but I hope that he sees a lot of time against Pine Bluff and NC A&T.
I think that the worst thing to happen to Stroud may have been hitting consecutive 3 pointers against Eastern NM. It gave him, and us, hope that he had an outside shot. Except for those two 3 pointers, however, he has looked miserable beyond the arc. I do like the way he looks attacking the basket, however.
Efe has the size, strength, and skill to dominate against East Central. Unfortunately, like in the Eastern NM game, he was pressing too much, leading to a disappointing game. When he let's the game come to him and doesn't force things he is a really good player.
We have seen some really good things so far this year from each of our top 11 players. We've seen some disappointing things from each of them as well. If we can get them to play more consistently we will be in the conference title hunt. Continued inconsistency will lead to us losing some games that we should win.
The only one who can stop Bryson Williams is Bryson Williams. Yeah, I know that this was East Central, but we've also seen him dominate much better competition as well - at least when he's on the floor. If he can fix his Achilles heal of foul trouble he will be unstoppable.
Williams was awesome, Edwards was fine. Other than that our starters played poorly tonight.
After Williams the best players tonight were Tarke and Hawkins. Tarke finally seems to be adjusting to being back on the floor and to this team. In my opinion he's earned minutes against NMSU. Hawkins might just be our best playmaker in transition. He made the right play on the break frequently tonight.
Back to Hawkins. I've read a lot this season as to how he's been a disappointment at UTEP. Sone here must view things a lot differently than I do. I personally don't expect a freshman to come in and be a superstar. I look for that spark that tells me that this guy has the tools to be a good player some day, all the while expecting that often he will play like, well, a freshman.
I saw that spark last year. In the fact that he led the team in scoring during conference games at almost 14 ppg, and in the fact that he had several really good individual performances. Of course, he often looked like a freshman as well. In my mind, he and Lathon had similar freshman seasons, though Lathon was a little more consistent and more clutch. Hawkins didn't start out great this year, but I hope this game is a springboard to better things from him in his sophomore season.
If Boum going to bust out offensively, I hope that he does it real soon. His shooting these last few games has been hard to watch.
I've seen it hypothesized on here that Archie was nervous. I've seen it hypothesized that he is rusty. Yes. It will be a little too scary to let him work out his nerves/rust issues against NMSU, but I hope that he sees a lot of time against Pine Bluff and NC A&T.
I think that the worst thing to happen to Stroud may have been hitting consecutive 3 pointers against Eastern NM. It gave him, and us, hope that he had an outside shot. Except for those two 3 pointers, however, he has looked miserable beyond the arc. I do like the way he looks attacking the basket, however.
Efe has the size, strength, and skill to dominate against East Central. Unfortunately, like in the Eastern NM game, he was pressing too much, leading to a disappointing game. When he let's the game come to him and doesn't force things he is a really good player.
We have seen some really good things so far this year from each of our top 11 players. We've seen some disappointing things from each of them as well. If we can get them to play more consistently we will be in the conference title hunt. Continued inconsistency will lead to us losing some games that we should win.
I say this with seriousness only because Teich and Yellen raise it up time to time on the radio (and UTEP is just six games in), fans and even Kap mentioned it in an article but there is an official who seems to have a real beef with UTEP and it's not getting better. UTEP needs to address this issue pronto and diplomatically and get to the bottom of it.
Boum tries to hard at times. He just needs to let the game come to him. For example, Lathon has Bern better not forcing things. If it's there, he takes the opportunity; if not, he dishes out.
Williams has a bullseye on his back: He's big, strong as heck and dominates inside. Downside, refs blow the whistle because of it.
Edwards is Mana from Heaven. There will be conference games that he will help UTEP survive; he has ice in his veins.
Boum tries to hard at times. He just needs to let the game come to him. For example, Lathon has Bern better not forcing things. If it's there, he takes the opportunity; if not, he dishes out.
Williams has a bullseye on his back: He's big, strong as heck and dominates inside. Downside, refs blow the whistle because of it.
Edwards is Mana from Heaven. There will be conference games that he will help UTEP survive; he has ice in his veins.
Maniac has been the "voice of reason" for years. His analysis during the Sadler (short) years were really good and immediately noticed Sadler's recruiting wasn't adding up and UTEP was heading into a black hole. Sadler was riding Billy's shadow to book it out of UTEP quickly for $$$greener pastures. Barbee came in and had to literally start from scratch to rebuild because Doc left him nothing.
I said that to thank him, and throw a bit of shade to those who expected the freshman to not play like a freshman.
